AB-Solution - The Ad Blocking Solution

[Twiglets]

Re: xn name domains .... Ah! that links to the 'punycode stuff' I read.

Re: Typo ..... I meant in the Hosts file that is processed into the blockingfile.

Don't worry ........ not impugning your 'Masterpiece' !!!

I did say 'ignore' as you and RMerlin had explained the 'non-problem' to me.
Thanks for the clarification, all information gratefully received. (I do ask a lot of questions!!!)

 

[thelonelycoder]

Re: xn name domains .... Ah! that links to the 'punycode stuff' I read.

Re: Typo ..... I meant in the Hosts file that is processed into the blockingfile.

Don't worry ........ not impugning your 'Masterpiece' !!!

I did say 'ignore' as you and RMerlin had explained the 'non-problem' to me.
Thanks for the clarification, all information gratefully received. (I do ask a lot of questions!!!)

I'm sure that HpHosts made no typo, just an automated process that adds them to their list(s).
I was more worried about an AB typo. The AB-Maximum was for a while AB-Max in the list but with the correct name in the conf file and I knew I fixed it a while ago. But that was in a beta version.
All good then.

 

[RMerlin]

Dnsmasq ignores the line containing foreign chars and loads the rest of it. I just checked.

He could encode it in Punycode - that should allow it to work.

Out of curiosity, I added IDN support to dnsmasq (requires adding libidn). That adds 150 KB to dnsmasq - not worth the flash space.

 

[thelonelycoder]

He could encode it in Punycode - that should allow it to work.

Out of curiosity, I added IDN support to dnsmasq (requires adding libidn). That adds 150 KB to dnsmasq - not worth the flash space.

I'm awaiting the answer from HpHosts, this is unusual as the hosts files are mostly geared towards unix systems, running dnsmasq. Some Punycode domains are in the files so I believe this will be fixed soon.

 

[Frejoh4666]

So I assume you patch together all the different hosts files, removes the duplicates, and then create one big hosts file. Can I pull the hosts file somehow?

I looked around the USB in SSH, but didn't find anything.

 

[tomsk]

So I assume you patch together all the different hosts files, removes the duplicates, and then create one big hosts file. Can I pull the hosts file somehow?

I looked around the USB in SSH, but didn't find anything.

have a look for blocking_file in the adblocking directory

 

[Frejoh4666]

have a look for blocking_file in the adblocking directory

Ah, the only file I didn't open. Thanks.

 

[tomsk]

Ah, the only file I didn't open. Thanks.

Hiding in plain sight ..... and now I'm paraphrasing the transformers

 

[thelonelycoder]

Hiding in plain sight ..... and now I'm paraphrasing the transformers

Now that @Frejoh4666 has uncovered the secret, I need to build in an obfuscating algorythm, maybe spread the file out to several files...

 

[Frejoh4666]

Ok, whats the best way to get the file?

nano or vi doesn't seem to have select all and copy.
scp I need to be on linux
pscp on putty I wasn't able to get to work as I kept getting "connection refused"
can't open sftp nor go into the shared folder for ASUS as it doesn't show files, only folders.

Easiest way is just to pull the USB and copy the file that way?

 

[thelonelycoder]

Ok, whats the best way to get the file?

nano or vi doesn't seem to have select all and copy.
scp I need to be on linux
pscp on putty I wasn't able to get to work as I kept getting "connection refused"
can't open sftp nor go into the shared folder for ASUS as it doesn't show files, only folders.

Easiest way is just to pull the USB and copy the file that way?

WinSCP for Windows, use scp as the protocol, ssh credentials.

 

[Frejoh4666]

Now that @Frejoh4666 has uncovered the secret, I need to build in an obfuscating algorythm, maybe spread the file out to several files...

WinSCP for Windows, use scp as the protocol, ssh credentials.

Ah, thanks.

 

[Frejoh4666]

Ok, one more question.

Can I whitelist a domain? eg. don't run adblocker on a site? The reason is that I don't want to run adblocker on a site. The problem is that the website load ads from other sites. And whitelisting those site would load ads on other site and not just on the site I want whitelisted.

I assume this wont work because the whitelist only remove the ad domain in the hosts file and does not add an exception for a site to ignore the hosts file.

 

[jpdsc]

@thelonelycoder, In the ABS gui it is possible to set a different IP address than the ones used to block (cb custom block IP [off] (0.0.0.0)).
Do you know an IP address which shows a blocked icon or something else?

Cheers

 

[thelonelycoder]

Ok, one more question.

Can I whitelist a domain? eg. don't run adblocker on a site? The reason is that I don't want to run adblocker on a site. The problem is that the website load ads from other sites. And whitelisting those site would load ads on other site and not just on the site I want whitelisted.

I assume this wont work because the whitelist only remove the ad domain in the hosts file and does not add an exception for a site to ignore the hosts file.

No, that is not possible. Dnsmasq cannot differentiate between devices and serve a separate blocking file.

 

[thelonelycoder]

@thelonelycoder, In the ABS gui it is possible to set a different IP address than the ones used to block (cb custom block IP [off] (0.0.0.0)).
Do you know an IP address which shows a blocked icon or something else?

Cheers

AB without pixelserv-tls uses 0.0.0.0 as blocking IP, this is the only IP that works as good as it does, for technical reasons.
Pixelserv partially substitutes blocked ads with a 1x1 pixel image. This image is transparent and cannot be changed.

You could, however, install your own web server that serves a filler image with the text you want for all blocked content.
However, this would be relatively complicated to do.
The best ad-blocking is when you don't see that the ad was blocked. Otherwise the "this ad has been blocked" text soon gets boring and as intrusive as the actual ad itself.

 

[jpdsc]

AB without pixelserv-tls uses 0.0.0.0 as blocking IP, this is the only IP that works as good as it does, for technical reasons.
Pixelserv partially substitutes blocked ads with a 1x1 pixel image. This image is transparent and cannot be changed.

You could, however, install your own web server that serves a filler image with the text you want for all blocked content.
However, this would be relatively complicated to do.
The best ad-blocking is when you don't see that the ad was blocked. Otherwise the "this ad has been blocked" text soon gets boring and as intrusive as the actual ad itself.

Couldn't agree more thanks for the explanation. I have now also enabled pixelserv-tls (didn't know about this checked the FAQ on your website).

Cheers,

 

[Frejoh4666]

No, that is not possible. Dnsmasq cannot differentiate between devices and serve a separate blocking file.

Thought so.

I went through my plan list. Having a webbrowser that bypass it, like having its own DNS setting or creating a connection on 192.168.1.2 with it. But with no knowledge, no luck on google, and not wanting to run a proxy server led me to plan Z.

Can I with a single line in SSH enable/disable the adblocker? Or must it be ./ab-solution.sh wait for it to load then enter a, then e to exit?

Also something I didn't find. Does entware and pixelserv-tls slowdown the loading of sites? And does Pixelserv only substitutes blocked ads with a 1x1 pixel image? The FAQ said something about HTTPS not working without it, but for me it seems to work just fine, so I'm a little confused.

 

[thelonelycoder]

Can I with a single line in SSH enable/disable the adblocker? Or must it be ./ab-solution.sh wait for it to load then enter a, then e to exit?

You have to start the UI to shut it down properly, as several services are tied to it.
There is no command switch for it.

Thought so.

I went through my plan list. Having a webbrowser that bypass it, like having its own DNS setting or creating a connection on 192.168.1.2 with it. But with no knowledge, no luck on google, and not wanting to run a proxy server led me to plan Z.

Can I with a single line in SSH enable/disable the adblocker? Or must it be ./ab-solution.sh wait for it to load then enter a, then e to exit?

Also something I didn't find. Does entware and pixelserv-tls slowdown the loading of sites? And does Pixelserv only substitutes blocked ads with a 1x1 pixel image? The FAQ said something about HTTPS not working without it, but for me it seems to work just fine, so I'm a little confused.

The slowdown is minimal, in the low milliseconds range.

Remember the days when banner ads were served as gif's or png's? Those were the easy days You could simply block that image and all was well.
These days, most of the ads are dynamically served through javascript. There is no image to replace.

Not all ads are served through https, most run on http. If you switch off ps, clear the OS and browser cache and then force reload the webpage you'll find the https source ads reappear.

 

[tomsk]

Ok, one more question.

Can I whitelist a domain? eg. don't run adblocker on a site? The reason is that I don't want to run adblocker on a site. The problem is that the website load ads from other sites. And whitelisting those site would load ads on other site and not just on the site I want whitelisted.

I assume this wont work because the whitelist only remove the ad domain in the hosts file and does not add an exception for a site to ignore the hosts file.

I don't really understand what you are asking for here...... absolution just looks to block the DNS request for a domain that matches an entry in its blocking file. It doesn't care if the domain is the main site address, or an adsite address. Therefore it is perfectly feasible to whitelist a particular website but still have the ads embedded within it blocked. However, if you want the same embedded adsites to be served for one website but not for another, this is not possible as dnsmasq has no knowledge of which website the adsite DNS request originated from.